Apparatus for the automatic winding of reels



y 7, 1968 H. THOMAS ETAL 3,381,911

APPARATUS FDR THE AUTOMATIC WINDING OF HEELS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 13, 1965 mmA E O M Mm w m g E W 7 P 2 f. m N fim HP ATTORNEYS May 7, 19168 H. THOMAS ETAL 3,381,911

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WINDING OF HEELS Filed Aug. 13, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

INVENTORS HERMANN THOMAS PHILIPP WEINMANN FRANZ HELD ATTORNEYS May 7, 1968 H. THOMAS ETAL 3,331,911

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC WINDING OF HEELS Filed Aug. 13, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS HERMANN THOMAS PH ILIPP WEINMANN FRANZ HELD ATTORNEYS United States Patent in Claims. 61. 242-56) ABSTRACT OF THE DESCLQSURE This invention relates to an apparatus for the automatic 1 winding of reels including a rotatable reel star having a plurality of winding shafts positioned thereon and a plurality of supporting rollers mounted within the reel star for engaging and driving the reels. At least one pair of arms adapted to receive a winding shaft is provided between adjacent rollers and adapted to receive the winding shaft at a supply position. A plurality of rocker shafts are mounted in the reel star each having one or more pairs of arms mounted thereon and means are provided for biasing the arms during the winding operation to press the reels carried thereby at an adjustable pressure against an adjacent supporting roller to be driven thereby.

The invention relates to apparatus for the automatic winding of reels.

Machines of various constructions for the automatic production of small reels by the continuous winding of one or more webs, tapes, or strips are known. These machines contain generally a plurality of driven supporting rollers mounted in a rotatable reel star, by which supporting rollers the reels contacting them are driven. Upon completion of individual reels, the tape is cut and transferred to the next winding shaft, the finished reels, after indexing of the reel star, being delivered at a position beyond the winding position.

In known machines of this construction, the individual reels are wound without a winding shaft or sleeve. Such machines are therefore only suitable for specific purposes, more particularly for winding rolls of wallpaper. In other machines the reels are wound up on winding sleeves, the winding sleeves, and thus the reels, being disposed directly side by side. The separation of the individual reels after completion of the winding operation presents difliculties, since it cannot be avoided that the tapes run into each other laterally. Moreover, the reels in some cases fail to have the desired quality.

The invention relates to improvements in the machines referred to, by which improvements the aforesaid disadvantages may be removed and reels of the high quality required, for example, for reels used in cash registers, may be produced automatically. This is achieved in that, based on the machines of the construction hereinbefore described, there are inserted between adjacent 0 supporting rollers one or more pairs of arms between which the Winding shaft or sleeve is received, the arms being mounted on a rocker shaft provided on the reel star, a force being applied to the arms during the winding operation in such manner that they press the reels 5 carried by them against an adjacent supporting roller at an adjustable pressure. In one preferred construction, the machines consist of two reel stars of the same construction to which strips of a tape slit longitudinally are fed alternately by reel-slitting machines in known manner. 7

The pairs of arms provided in accordance with the invention engage the winding shaft or sleeve on both sides,

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the winding shaft or sleeve being thereby guided in a lateral direction with resultant satisfactory winding of reels having smooth end faces. A spring or an hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder acts upon each pair of arms, or upon all of the pairs of arms mounted on one common shaft, so that each individual reel is pressed against its driving and supporting roller under an adjustable pressure.

This construction, in which each individual reel is guided and loaded by its own pair of arms affords the substantial advantage that deflections or sags of any kind have no effect on the result of the winding operation. Thus, for example, a sagging of the supporting rollers does not affect the winding operation in any way. Supporting rollers of a small diameter may thus be used even in machines of a relatively substantial width.

The pairs of arms which are advantageously axially movable on their rocker shaft, are controlled in such manner as to receive the winding shaft or sleeve at the feed position thereof by moving towards each other, and to release the finished reel at the position of delivery there of by carrying out an axial movement in the opposite direction.

Furthermore, the rocking motion of the pairs of arms in radial directions is advantageously controlled by one or more stationary cam discs or the like in such manner that the pairs of arms disengage the reels from their supporting rollers forwardly of the position of delivery thereof, and remain in the disengaged position until they reach the position at which the winding shafts or sleeves are received, at which position they are in alignment wit-h the next winding shaft or sleeve kept in readiness.

An adhesive-applying device may be provided for stick ing the outermost layer of the finished reel in position, b which device an adhesive is applied to the tape at a posi tion forwardly of the winding sleeve held in readiness to be wound and just before the tape is cut by a knife pro vided beyond the winding position of the fresh reel, as considered in the direction of movement of the tape. This adhesive-applying device may also be used for applying adhesive to the fresh leading end of the tape, which is thus stuck to the next winding sleeve. The knife for cutting the tape may be pivoted to the machine frame at a position externally of the reel star; a plurality of pivotable knives may, however, also be mounted in the reel star between the supporting rollers. It is always only the knife beyond the winding position which operates in each case.

One construction of apparatus according to the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-section through the machine showing the basic disposition of the components of the two reel stars but in which some constructional details of the apparatus are omitted;

FIGURE 2 shows in longitudinal section the left-hand and right-hand parts of one of two reel stars; and

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section through one of two reel stars.

A web or tape 1 coming from a supplyreel is slit longitudinally between sli-tters 3 and counter-slitters 2 into longitudinal strips of the width of a reel. The individual strips run alternately in the directions of the left-hand and right-hand reel stars. The left-hand reel star consists of end discs 4 and 5 in which a plurality of supporting rollers 6 are mounted at uniform intervals. The supporting rollers of the right-hand reel star which is of the same construction as the left-hand reel star, are denoted 7 in the drawings. Since both reel stars are of exactly the same construction the description below applies to both reel stars. It should, be noted, however, that one of the reel stars has to rotate in the clockwise direction, and the other reel star has to rotate in the opposite direction because of direction of feed of the tapes to the two reel stars. The reel stars are thus mounted in inverse relation.

The two discs 4 and 5 of the left-hand reel star are secured to a shaft 8 mounted in bearings 9 of the machine frame. Also mounted in the two discs 4 and 5, in addition to the supporting rollers 6, are rocker shafts 10, only one of which is shown in FIGURE 2. Each rocker shaft 10 carries a number of arms 11 which are axially displaceable in such manner as to follow the rocking motions of their shaft 10.

The right-hand side of FIGURE 2 shows a longitudinal section of the arms 11, and also the manner in which they are mounted on the rocker shaft 10, and the manner in which the rocker shaft is mounted in the disc 5. This part of FIGURE 2 shows, furthermore, the devices used for the axial displacement of the arms 11, and the manner in which the devices are mounted in the discs of the reel star. A description of these devices follows below. On the left-hand side of FIGURE 2, the arms and the means by which they are controlled are omitted for clarity and also for the reason that this part of the drawing is mainly intended to show the bearings of the supporting rollers and the means by which they are driven. It will, however, be understood that the arms referred to are provided in general over the whole width of the reel star.

Two arms 11 form a pair of arms by which a winding shaft or sleeve may be gripped on both sides. The rocking motions of the individual shafts 10 are controlled by a cam 12 which is secured to the machine frame, in that,

secured to the ends of the shafts 10 are arms 13 carrying rollers 14 which slide along the cam disc 12 unless they are disengaged owing to the increasing diameter of the reel. In the illustrated example, the contact pressure between the individual reels and their supporting rollers 6 or 7 is produced by springs or pressure means 15 (FIG- URE 3). One end of such a spring is secured to each arm 11, the other end 16 thereof being secured to a disc 17, a few of which only are shown in FIGURE 2. Each pair of arms 11, all of which are disposed in the same vertical plane, is provided with such a disc, the spring of one arm being secured to one side of the disc and that of the other arm being secured to the other side thereof.

Pneumatic cylinders, hydraulic pressure means (or other pressure means) applying to the arms a substantially radially inwardly directed force may be used instead of springs 15.

The axial movements of the arms 11 are produced by rods 18 and 19 which are controlled in the axial direction by cam discs 20 and 21. The cam discs 20, 21 are also secured to the machine frame at a position adjacent to the cam disc 12, but, in contrast thereto are profiled in the axial direction. Upon rotation of the reel star, the rods 18 and 19 are thus shifted in one or the other axial direction. Secured to both rods are tappets 22 and 23 which follow the movements of the rods, and by means of engaging dogs secured thereto, engage in annular grooves provided in the arms 11 close to the position at which the arms 11 are mounted on the shaft 10. The tappets 22 of the rod 18 always engage in the left-hand arm of each pair, whilst the tappets 23 always engage in the right-hand arm of each pair. When the rod 18 is, for example shifted to the left, and the rod 19 is shifted simultaneously to the right, then all of the pairs of arms will move in opposite directions, that is to say, they release, for example a winding sleeve which until then has been held in position between the arms 11. When the rods 18 and 19 carry out the reverse relative movement, the pairs of arms 11 approach each other and are thus enabled to grip a winding sleeve.

The supporting rollers, serving both as supports and as the means by which the reels are driven, are driven by means not shown in the drawing through a pinion 24 engaging in a pinion 25 provided with internal teeth. Pinions 26 secured to the shaft of each supporting roller engage in the pinion 25 provided with internal teeth. All of the supporting rollers of the reel star are thus driven simultaneouslv at uniform s eed.

The advantage afforded by driving the supporting rollers by a pinion having internal teeth is that the movement and tension of the tape remain practically unchanged. This is particularly so if the pitch diameter of the pinions 26 corresponds to the diameter of the supporting rollers 6 so that the pitch diameter of the pinion 25 corresponds to the diameter of the periphery of the supporting rollers, since the supporting rollers roll along the tape in such manner that no relative movement between the supporting rollers and the tape develops.

The swinging motions of the reel star may tak place continuously or step by step. A step-by-step movement may be produced by a cylinder 27, the piston rod of which swings an arm 28 to and fro. This arm acts upon an overrunning clutch, which is mounted on the shaft 8 of the reel star driving it in one direction of rotation only, whereas the shaft, and thus the reel star, are stationary when the piston rod moves in the opposite direction. In drives of this kind, the connection with the reel star is advantageouslv provided with a catch in order to ensure that the reel star stops at a determined position.

The machine operates as follows:

In the stage of operation of the machine shown in FIG- URE 1, the reel 29 and the reel disposed beyond it are completely wound. The subsequent arms 11, which in the drawing are disposed above the reels, press winding sleeves 30 against the tapes which, for the time being, are still running in the direction of the reels 29, and against the common supporting roller 6 underneath the tapes. As soon as the reels 29 have attained their final diameter, which is ascertained by a scanning device (not shown) or by a yardage counter, a nozzle 31, from which an adhesive is sprayed upon the web, is opened by a control device for a short time over each strip of the tape. This is followed immediately by the tapes being pierced and thus cut off by a knife 33 secured to a rocker arm 32, after which the knife returns at once to its initial posi tion. The tape end thus obtained, which is coated with adhesive, is then drawn-in between the supporting roller 6 and the reel 29 which is thus bonded in position. The leading end of each strip, which leading end is also coated with adhesive, adheres to the next winding sleeve 30 on to which it is then wound.

As soon as the fresh reels have been initially wound to a sufiicient extent, the reel star is indexed by one division, that is to say through an angle of 60 in the illus trated construction, as a result of the activity of the com pressed air in the cylinder 27. During this indexing, ad vantageously upon termination thereof, the rods 18 and 19 of the arms by which the finished reels 29 are held in position, are shifted axially, so that the pairs of arms open to release the reels, which then roll over an inclined surface 34 to a conveyor by which they are removed from the machine. The fresh reels which are then at the position previously occupied by the reels 29 and driven by the supporting roller wind themselves up to an increasing extent. The springs 15 by which the contact pressure is produced allow the arms 11, by which they are held in position, to move radially outwards as the diameter of the reel increases.

Fresh winding sleeves are picked up by the arms at the lower outlet of juxtaposed feed channels 35 in which the lowermost of a plurality of winding sleeves arranged in superimposed layers are kept in readiness to be picked up. For this purpose, the arms 11 are guided in a radial direction by the stationary cam disc 12 in such manner as to be in alignment with the winding sleeves kept in readiness as they move past them. At the same moment, the two arms of each pair, being moved towards each other by the cams 20, 21 and by the rods 18, 19, grip the winding sleeves between them. The winding sleeves are advantageously picked up at about the beginning of that step of the movement at which the sleeves picked up are subsequently moved to a stand-by position for initial winding.

It will be noted from FIGURE 3 that keys 36 extending across the entire length of the shaft 10 between the discs 4 and 5 are respectively secured to the shafts 10. The keys engage in key grooves 37 provided in the hubs of the individual arms 11. The width of the key grooves exceeds, however, substantially that of the keys. The force of the springs applied to the individual arms 11 has the result that one of the side faces of the key grooves contacts the keys, so that the position of the arms in a radial direction is determined by the shape of the cam disc 12. The construction of the cam disc is such that, as the arms are moving past the channels 35, they are in exact alignment with the winding sleeves kept in readmess.

As the reel star is indexed, the Winding sleeves 30 contact the tape 1 owing to the cam disc 12 having a slightly smaller diameter. However, as soon as the tape is wound upon the fresh winding sleeves, the enlarged key grooves permit a radially outward movement of the arms 11 without it being necessary for the roller 14 to be disengaged from the cam disc 12. As a result, the arms which are independent of the cam disc during the Winding operation, are thus only subjected to the action of the springs 15. This construction affords the advantage that, even in the case of the individual reels having different diameters resulting from the unavoidable differences in thickness of the individual strips being wound, the contact pressure at which each individual reels is pressed against its supporting roller remains unaffected by the adjacent reels.

After completion of the winding operation, the rollers 14 ascend the elevated portion of the cam disc 12, and the key 36 again acts upon the arms to lift the finished reels slightly off their supporting rollers. The arms remain in this radial position after the reel has been delivered, and also during the indexing of the reel star until the roller 14 return to the central diameter of the cam disc 12.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for the automatic winding of reels by continuous winding of one or more webs, tapes or strips on winding shafts or sleeves comprising:

a rotatable reel star having a plurality of winding shafts positioned thereon,

a plurality of supporting rollers mounted within the reel star for engaging and driving the reels,

at least one pair of arms adapted to receive a winding shaft being provided between adjacent rollers and adapted to receive said winding shaft at a supply position, a plurality of rocker shafts mounted in the reel star each having one or more pairs of arms mounted thereon,

means for biasing the arms during the winding operation to press the reels carried thereby at an adjustable pressure against an adjacent supporting roller to be driven thereby,

means for cutting the tape after a reel has been wound,

and

means for transferring the tape after cutting to a fresh winding shaft.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, including spring means acting upon each pair of arms to guide the arms on a predetermined path.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, including a hydraulic pressure means acting upon each pair of arms to guide the arms on a predetermined path.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, including pneumatic means acting upon each pair of arms to guide the arms on a predetermined path.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which each pair of arms is axially movable on a rocker shaft, the arms being controlled in such manner as to pick up the winding shaft or sleeve at the position of supply by moving towards each other, and to release the finished reel at the position of discharge by moving axially in the opposite direction.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which the rocking of each pair of arms on the rocker shaft is controlled by at least one stationary cam disc in such manner that the reels are lifted off their supporting rollers at a position forwardly of the position of discharge, the arms remaining in the disengaged position as far as the position of supply at which the winding shafts or sleeves are picked up, in which disengaged position they are in alignment with a winding shaft or sleeve kept in readiness for the winding operation.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which an adhesive-applying device is provided which, just before the tape is cut by cutting means disposed beyond the winding position, considered in the direction of movement of the tape, applies to the tape an adhesive at a position forwardly of the winding shaft or sleeve kept in readiness for the winding operation.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, in which each supporting roller is provided with a knife mounted on the reel star, which knife, for the purpose of cutting the tape, is moved in a substantially radial direction to the reel star.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, including a common pinion provided with internal teeth the pitch diameter of which pinion substantially corresponds, to the diameter of the periphery of the supporting rollers, all of said supporting rollers of each reel star being driven thereby.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, including keys provided on the rocker shaft, a key groove being provided to receive the keys the diameter of which groove exceeds that of the keys, said keys displacing the arms horizontally within predetermined limits on the shafts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,958,068 5/1934 Raiche 24256 2,668,675 2/1954 Wolfe 24256 3,179,348 4/1965 Mystrand et al 24256 LEONARD D. CHRISTIAN, Primary Examiner. 

